Yes, until World War I, Bielitz was one of the most important industrial cities of the empire. After the war, the empire broke up into many countries. And Bielitz, with its industry and wealth, found itself inside the borders of the Second Republic.
Earlier, for hundreds of years, Bielitz had developed as a German town in character. From the tradition of weavers' guilds, numerous thanks to the availability of sheep's wool harvested from flocks grazing in the Beskydy Mountains, an extremely dynamic industrial center grew in the age of the industrial revolution.
Imperial Viennese architecture of old Bielitz
photo: Dorota Koperska | Bielsko-Biała City Hall
We know the history of Lodz very well, and today it can be deciphered by walking through the large-scale revitalized post-industrial city. Piotrkowska with its tenements, Księży Młyn, Manufaktura, the architecture of factories, industrialists' palaces, unique urban space are a world-scale phenomenon, an urban concrete - in a sense obvious to most Poles. (Incidentally, as obvious as it is still unknown to the "rest of the world").
From this perspective, the unfamiliarity with the fate of Bielsko-Biala may make one wonder. Why is it that we all know the story of Lodz, also a multi-ethnic and industrial city, while we know nothing about the longer and at least equally interesting history of Bielsko-Biała?
Polish Theater in Bielsko-Biala
photo by Dorota Koperska | Bielsko-Biala City Hall
Before I discovered the true history of Bielsko-Biała myself, I used to frequent the area as a fan of Beskid hiking and almost a local - my parents live on Lake Zywiec. My acquaintance with Bielsko and Biała lasted almost all my life - I used to spend weekends here as early as the late 1980s and early 1990s. I used to go to the movies in the now-defunct Rialto and Apollo cinemas, quite mindlessly registering the anomaly that two cinemas right next to each other were in those days. The duality of the name was not enough to get me interested in its origin. Nor was the disturbing, strange atmosphere of the historic center enough. It must have taken many years for me to come to Bielsko-Biała, so to speak, completely anew. On duty, already as an experienced urban development strategist.
Poland's only monument to Martin Luther in Bielsko-Biala's Zion district
Photo: L. Cykarski | Bielsko-Biala City Hall
